Qatar’s Ooredoo is said to be considering at a secondary London listing.

A secondary listing in London has some obvious attractions for companies in the Middle East – global visibility, diversified investor base and increased liquidity: not surprising then that Qatar-based Ooredoo, a regional telecom giant with global growth aspirations, is considering such a move.

The telco, formerly known as Qatar Telecom, has sent out a request for proposal to banks to study the merits of a secondary stock market listing in London, bankers familiar with the matter say.

Besides the obvious, the plan for a secondary stock listing could also mean that Ooredoo – whose GDRs already trade sparsely on the LSE – may be looking at raising fresh cash and/or that a big investor is looking to sell down its stake.

The telco is majority-owned by the Qatar government and counts the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority as one of its biggest shareholders, according to Zawya.com data.

For the Qatari government, a partial stake sale would still leave them in control of the company, while helping raise cash to fund some of the Persian Gulf state’s ambitious spending plans.

Whatever the reason, a London listing is expected to help garner a better valuation, or at least that would be the belief behind such a move. After all, the local Doha-based market isn’t very liquid and any big stake sale there will likely impact its stock price. Ooredoo shares last traded at QAR140.90 on the Qatar Exchange, far lower than the QAR157.97 that investment bank EFG Hermes values them at.

Victor Sunyer, a director at Delta Partners, a telecom advisory and investment company, reckons it also makes increasing sense for operators that have a more diversified portfolio to pursue a listing abroad. “Here they have a very narrow investor base and they are bound by the local markets.”

The Qatari telco, which has been aggressively expanding abroad, operates subsidiaries across the Middle East, North Africa and South East Asia.

But not all agree to the benefits of a secondary listing. “I’m not a fan of dual listing, it’s better to have a liquid listed company in one market versus having a company listed on multiple exchanges,” says Sebastien Henin, a portfolio manager at Abu Dhabi-based The National Investor. “For Ooredoo the benefit is even less obvious because they’re not going to benefit from a better cost of capital, one of the main benefits to do such a move.”